The East meets the West Midlands at the King Power Stadium on Saturday as Leicester City take on Aston Villa in the Premier League.
The Foxes are winless in their two games back in the top flight, although they did pick up an impressive point against Tottenham Hotspur in the opening week of the 2024/25 campaign. Steve Cooper's side were beaten by Fulham last weekend but in Saturday's game they defeated EFL side Tranmere Rovers 4-0 in the second round of the Carabao Cup.
Villa's upcoming Champions League fixtures mean they were not in the League Cup before this game, but were beaten at home in their previous outing. Olle Watkins' extraordinary night at Villa Park saw Unai Emery's side lose 2-0 to title hopefuls Arsenal last Saturday.
Villa started the season with a hard-fought 2-1 win at West Ham United.
Here it is 90 min preview of Saturday's Premier League match.
Leicester vs Aston Villa H2H Record (Last Five Matches)
Current form (all competitions)
|
Leicester |
Aston Villa |
|---|---|
|
Leicester 4-0 Tranmere – 27/08/24 |
Aston Villa 0-2 Arsenal – 24/08/24 |
|
Fulham 2-1 Leicester – 24/08/24 |
West Ham 1-2 Aston Villa – 17/08/24 |
|
Leicester 1-1 Tottenham – 19/08/24 |
Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Aston Villa – 10/08/24 |
|
Lens 3-0 Leicester – 10/08/24 |
Aston Villa 3-2 Athletic Club – 07/08/24 |
|
Leicester 0-1 Augsburg – 03/08/24 |
Club America 1-0 Aston Villa – 03/08/24 |
|
The country |
TV channel/live streaming |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
BBC Radio 5 Live (not televised) |
|
United States |
Peacock |
|
Canada |
fuboTV Canada |
The Foxes have a few injury problems heading into Saturday's game and their strong win in midweek could give Cooper something to think about in terms of team selection.
Summer arrivals Oliver Skipp and Jordan Ayew are both looking to start against Villa, as is Conor Coady at the heart of Leicester's defence.
Patson Daka is likely to miss out again with a pre-season ankle injury, but Cooper has veteran Jamie Vardy to lift him up.
Leicester predicted to face Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Hermansen; Justin, Coady, Faes, Kristiansen; Break, Ndidi; Fatawu, Buonanotte, Ayew; Vardy.
Matty Cash picked up an injury during last weekend's 2-0 defeat by Arsenal. The right-back, replaced by youngster Kosta Nedeljkovic, will be sidelined until the break with a hamstring problem.
If Emery chooses not to use Nedeljkovic on the King Power, he can switch Ezri Konsa to right back and move Diego Carlos back into his defence. John Duran also wants to start at the top, but Morgan Rogers stood out against Ollie Watkins last Saturday.
Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings remain out for the visitors.
Aston Villa predicted to face Leicester (4-2-2-2): Martinez; Konsa, Carlos, Pau, Digne; Onana, Tielemans; McGinn, Bailey; Rogers, Watkins.
Cooper's Leicester are active and will bide their time when attacking and moving away from teams. With Vardy leading the line, they simply lack the ability to press well for long.
So, Villa will have a lot of Saturday's game. Will they be able to create more clear-cut chances compared to Tottenham two weeks ago? Spurs should have been invisible when Villa's mistakes cost them against Arsenal. All Vardy needs is a sniff to make Villa pay if they mess up this weekend.
Whether they will be clinical remains to be seen, but the visitors should dominate Saturday's contest and will undoubtedly work with the best slots. Leicester could be happy against Villa's superior defensive line, but Emery's side should win on the road again.
Prediction: Leicester 1-2 Aston Villa
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